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EXPERIENCE DETROIT
Attractions
& Self-Guided Tours
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Detroit Area Museums
Overview
World-class museums may not
be what come to mind when planning a trip to Detroit.
You may be surprised to find that Detroit has a rich history and a cultural
fabric unlike that of any other city, and much of it is preserved in a number
of fantastic institutions. From
priceless masterpieces and sculptures at the Detroit Institute of Arts to
hands-on exhibits for the kids at the Detroit Science
Center, Detroit has a museum
for everyone. Browse the list below
and explore the many informative, interactive, and engaging museums of metro Detroit.
Note that several of the
museums are located within proximity of one another in the Cultural Center area of Detroit, while the
others are dispersed around the city and suburbs. However, none of them are more than a short
drive away, so take time to visit all of these fine institutions!
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 Charles
H. Wright Museum of African American History
315 East
Warren, Detroit
Website
Dr. Charles
Wright, a Detroit obstetrician and gynecologist, established the City's first
International Afro-American Musuem in 1965.
Three decades and three addresses later, a new Museum of African
American History was opened in the heart of Detroit's Cultural Center. The 120,000 square foot, state-of-the-art
facility is considered one of the largest African American history museums in
the world. The buidling house a core
exhibition called And Still We Rise which takes visitors on a journey through
3.5 million years of courage, deterimination, ingenuity, and spriitual energy
of African Americans as they pursued emancipation and full rights of
citizenship. In addition to And Still
We Rise, the museum showcases a number of other interesting limited-run
exhibittions.
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Cranbrook
Art Museum & Institute of Science
39221 Woodward
Avenue, Bloomfield Hills
Website
Cranbrook is a internationally acclaimed
center of education, art, and science in the northern suburb of Bloomfield Hills. The campus is comprised of a graduate
Academy of Art, contemporary Art Museum, House & Gardens, natural history
museum, Institute of Science, and Pre-K through 12 independent college
preparatory schools. The Art Museum houses the work of
world-renowned architects and sculptors and the Insitute of Science features
eleven permanent galleries, a state-of-the-art planetarium and observatory,
and an outdoor science garden with nature trails. The institution was founded in 1904 by
Detroit philanthropists George and Ellen Booth and was named a National Historic
Monument in 1989.
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Detroit Historical Museum
 5401 Woodward Avenue, Detroit
Website
Your exploration into
Detroit's and southeastern Michigan's rich history begins at the Detroit
Historical Museum. The museum traces
the region through over 300 years of history through a number of creative
displays. Of particular interest is
the 8,000 square foot Motor City exhibition focused on automotive heritage
and featuring an actual working auto body drop from the General Motors Clark
Avenue facility.
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 Detroit
Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit
Website
The DIA
has been a hallmark of Detroit
culture since its founding in 1885.
The museum covers over 600,000 square feet and houses one of the largest
and most diverse collections of multicultural art in the United States,
including the priceless Vincent van Gogh Self Portrait and the masterpiece
sculpture Nail Figure from Zaire. To top it off, visitors are treated to
Mexican artist Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry fresco cycle, considered
Rivera's most important work in the U.S. Rivera painted 27 fresco panels, many of
them modeled after the Ford Rouge
Plant, on the walls of the large garden court inside the DIA.
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 Detroit
Science Center
5020 John R,
Detroit
Website
In the early 1970s, Detroit
banker and philanthropist Dexter Ferry believed Detroit's youth lacked the same
learning opportunities available in other major cities and led efforts to
establish a major science center in the city.
Construction on the original science center began in 1976 and a major
renovation and expansion was completed in 2001. Today's Detroit Science
Center encompasses over
110,000 square feet and offers Michigan's
only IMAX Dome Theatre, a
state-of-the-art digital planetarium, and multiple exhibit laboratories and
learning environments. Situated in the
heart of Detroit's
Cultural Center, the Detroit Science Center
is the perfect family venue that both educates and entertains.
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Dossin Great Lakes Museum
100 Strand Drive, Belle Isle, Detroit
Website
Discover Detroit's maritime history at the Dossin
Great Lakes Museum
located on Belle Isle in the Detroit River.
The museum tells the story of boats, sailors and cargoes on America's
inland seas. Dossin visitors can take the helm of a
Great Lakes freighter or admire the carved oak and stained glass of an early
passenger steamer's grand salon or visit one of the three changing exhibit
galleries.
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Henry Ford Museum
 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn
Website
The Henry Ford Museum, along
with the other attractions on the campus of The Henry Ford, provides an unparalleled
chronicle of American life and of the people and ideas that changed lives
through innovation. The museum houses
an array of exhibits showcasing the results of American genius at work. In addition to one of the finest automotive
history collections in the country,
exhibits include the world's most accurate replica of the Wright
brothers' Flyer, the only remaining prototype of the Dymaxion
house, and John F. Kennedy's fateful Dallas limousine. Time permitting, visit Greenfield Village,
the Benson Ford Library, IMAX
theater, and the Automotive Hall of Fame (all are located adjacent to the
museum). See the Experience Detroit Automotive Heritage Tours
page for more information.
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Holocaust Memorial Center
28123 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills
Website
Ground was broken on the
original Holocaust Memorial Center in 1981 on the campus of the Jewish
Community Campus in the northwest suburbs of Detroit. The institution was the first of its kind
in the United States and drew visitors from all over the world. With the opening of the new Holocaust
Memorial Center in 2004, the institution now houses two core exhibitions --
the Museum of European Jewish Heritage and the International Institute of the
Righteous. Your experience starts
before you even enter the facility with exterior architecture designed to
resemble the walls of a concentration camp.
Do not miss this awe-inspiring experience.
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 Motown
Historical Museum
2648 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit
Website
In 1959, upstart Detroit
songwriter and record producer Berry Gordy Jr. purchased a humble two story home,
moving his family into one half and setting up a studio in the other. He christened it "Hitsville
U.S.A." and from this building grew Motown from a startup
business to what became by the mid-70s the largest independent record company
in the world. The Motown Historical
Museum includes models of eight houses on West Grand Boulevard acquired by
the company to house its growing operations until it moved its offices to a
high-rise in downtown Detroit in 1968.
Among the many displays, visitors are treated to a tour of the studio
where Motown greats such as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Marvin
Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, the
Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Diana Ross and the Supremes, and the
Jackson Five actually recorded their hits.
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Related
Tours
African
American Heritage
Art & Culture Main
Page
Automotive
Heritage Tours
Belle Isle
Bloomfield
Hills, Cranbrook, & the Village of Franklin
Cultural Center
Music Heritage
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